Who are the monsters? From the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time come eight tales that cut and splice into the very worst and very occasionally the best, of human traits. Mark Haddon creates new, and breathes life into old, myths and legends, forming stories that pierce the soul. Prepare to be unsettled, to question, to find your train of thought exploring new places. These are not easy tales, they challenged and provoked and created an icy fire in my consciousness. In some stories I found myself craving comfort, a gentle hand, a supporting murmur, and yet these are stories that once started, have to be completed. Humanity is most definitely found wanting, yet even when despairing, I found myself caught up in the emotions, in the potency of these tales. This collection joins our LoveReading Star Books as well as sitting as a Liz Pick of the Month. Screaming with a suppressed energy, the oh-so powerful Dogs and Monsters closes an iron fist and squeezes hope almost to extinction. Highly recommended.
'A marvel of a collection' Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time
'There is nothing more terrifying than the monster that squats behind the door you dare not open...'
From the bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time come eight mesmerising stories exploring care, genetics, how we treat animals - and how we treat other people.
Mark Haddon weaves ancient fables into fresh and unexpected forms, and forges new legends to sit alongside them. The myth of the Minotaur in his labyrinth is turned into a wrenching parable of maternal love - and of the monstrosities of patriarchy. The lover of a goddess, Tithonus, is gifted eternal life but without eternal youth. Actaeon, changed into a stag after glimpsing the naked Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about how humans use and misuse animals.
From genetic engineering to the eternal complications of family, Haddon showcases how we are subject to the same elemental forces that obsessed the Greeks. Whether describing Laika the Soviet space dog on her fateful orbit, or St Anthony wrestling with loneliness in the desert, his astonishing powers of observation are at their height when illuminating the thin line between human and animal.
'In sentences as precisely cut as paper sculptures, Mark Haddon fits ancient myth to the cruelties and wonders of the present' Francis Spufford, author of Cahokia Jazz
Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screen-writer who has written fifteen books for children and won numerous prizes, including two BAFTAs. He lives in Oxford. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time won the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the South Bank Show Book Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His poetry collection, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea was published in 2005. His most recent adult novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in 2006. David Fickling Books is publishing BOOM! in autumn of 2009, a rewrite of his children's book, Gridzbi Spudvetch.
